A new poll shows President Donald Trump treading water in Florida, which he carried in 2016, while his ally Gov. Ron DeSantis is in excellent shape after eight months in Tallahassee.
St. Pete Polls released a survey of Florida voters for Florida Politics looking at both Trump and DeSantis.
Trump has the approval of 48 percent while 49 percent disapprove of him and 3 percent are not sure. There’s a major partisan divide on Trump with 80 percent of Republicans approving of him while 78 percent of Democrats disapprove of him. Voters outside the major parties are more split with 52 percent disapproving of him and 45 percent approving of him. Trump does better with voters over 50 and white Floridians. Hispanics are divided on Trump with 48 percent approving of him and 49 percent disapproving of him. Blacks and younger voters lean heavily against the president.
The poll shows both men and women in Florida are in the same ballpark when it comes to what they think about Trump. Almost half of women surveyed–49 percent–approve of Trump while 48 percent disapprove. Men are slightly more likely to disapprove of Trump according to the poll but even there it’s close with 50 percent disapproving of him and 47 percent approving of him.
DeSantis gets far better marks thanks to doing better with Hispanics and voters outside the major parties. A clear majority–58 percent–of those surveyed approve of DeSantis while 30 percent disapprove of him and the rest are not sure.
The governor has clearly nailed down the GOP base with 81 percent of Republicans approving of him and only 12 percent disapprove of him. Almost half of Democrats–49 percent–disapprove of the governor but more than a third of them–36 percent–approve of DeSantis. The governor is approved by 56 percent of voters outside the major parties while 30 percent of them disapprove of him.
DeSantis also does well with white as 64 percent of them approve of him and Hispanics as 56 percent of them approve of him. Almost half of black voters–49 percent–disapprove of DeSantis while 32 percent approve of him. The governor also does well with both genders and across all groups.
The poll also shows 64 percent of Florida voters would back a state constitutional amendment to “raise the minimum wage to $10 per hour with one dollar increases for each of the next five years” while 27 percent oppose it. To pass, a proposed amendment to the Florida Constitution needs 60 percent support in the general election.
Asked about moving the state capitol from Tallahassee to a “more central location in the state,” 54 percent oppose the idea while 33 percent back it.
The poll of 1,941 Florida voters was taken from Aug. 21-through Aug. 22 and had a margin of error of +/- 2.2 percent.
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